UW Polish Studies: Enterprise and Innovation

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The UW Polish Studies Endowment Committee in Seattle strives to establish a leading West Coast Polish Studies Center at the University of Washington. To fulfill its mission of Bridging Cultures through Education about Poland by sharing Polish intellectual, scientific, and artistic accomplishments, the UWPSEC raises money for an Endowed Chair of Polish Studies, attracts visiting scholars through a Fulbright Program, provides student scholarships and builds partnerships with community organizations.  The UW PSEC Distinguished Polish Speakers Series  offers a range of speakers, from artists, performers, filmmakers, writers, journalists, and academics to scientists, economists, civic leaders and politicians.

UWPSEC Distinguished Polish Speaker Series lectures on economy, enterprise and innovation:

  • “Seismic tomography: a window into the earth’s interior from crust to core” by Prof. Barbara Romanowicz, University of California, Berkley, October 27, 2010
  • The Central European Dimension of the Global Economic Crisis: Prospects for Recovery, Prof. Marek Belka, past Director of the International Monetary Fund, current head of the Polish National Bank. April 2010   See NOWY DZIENNIK article: Marek Belka – globalista z ludzka twarza
  • Circumstances of space travel, its first successes and failures, as seen by  the First and Only Polish Astronaut, Gen. Mirosław Hermaszewski, who in 1978 flew aboard Soyuz 30. September 2008
  • The Polish Perspective on the Future of Europe and the Trans-Atlantic Relationship, Janusz Reiter, former Ambassador of Poland to the United States.  April 2007
  • Post-Communist Transformation in Central Europe, Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz, co-architect of the “Balcerowicz Plan,” Poland’s former Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and President of the Polish National Bank, current  Head of the International Comparative Studies Department, Warsaw School of Economics. October 2007
  • Poles in the American Labor Movement, Prof. Thaddeus Radzilowski, President and co-founder of the Piast Institute: An Institute for Polish and Polish American Affairs and visiting Research Professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. October 2006
  • How the Means Become the End in Scientific Discovery: the Impact of Unintended Consequences, Prof. Jacek Furdyna, professor of Information Theory and Computer Technology at the University of Notre Dame. December 2006
  • In the Search for the Second Earth,  Prof. Aleksander Wolszczan, professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University and lecturer at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland.  March 2003
  • The Future Is Not What It Was: Realities of the Economic Transformation of Poland, Witold Sulimurski, past Executive Vice President of Irving Trust Company/Bank of New York, former head of American Investment Initiative in Poland, trustee of the Kościuszko Foundation.  March 2002

To learn about other programs, please, visit www.polishstudiesuw.org.